Bodies of five Jordanian officers killed in Haiti arrive in Amman

Bodies of five Jordanian peacekeepers who died in a UN plane crash in the Caribbean country of Haiti arrived in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Wednesday.

Pallbearers carried the five flag-draped caskets in the presence of King Abdullah II of Jordan, the supreme commander of Jordan's armed forces, and Jordan's first lady Queen Rania and high-ranking officers and officials and families of the officers.

The dead officers are part of a Jordanian peacekeeping battalion grouping 700 peacekeepers. The mission has been working in Haiti since 2004 when President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted.

The five Jordanians, along with six Uruguayan officers were killed when a UN plane crashed into a mountain during a regular reconnaissance flight on Friday near the border with the Dominican Republic.

Military officers present at the Queen Alia International Airport, where a plane landed with the bodies, stressed Jordan's commitment to efforts to bring about global peace and security.

They said Jordan has been and will continue to be active in peacekeeping forces across the world.

Jordan dispatched its first peacekeeping mission with the UN in December 1989, according to the Morale Guidance department of Jordan's armed forces.

With the death of the five officers, the overall number of Jordanian peacekeepers who died on peacekeeping missions abroad rose to 20, according to a statement by the department.